Introduction. - Ch. 1. Roots. - Ch. 2. The Tradition of the New. - Ch. 3. Formulating the Future. - Ch. 4. Russia: The Art of Revolution. - Ch. 5. The International Style. - Ch. 6. Triumph, Transformation and Rejection. - Epilogue. - Select Bibliography. - Biographies. - Index.

Modernism developed out of a bewildering array of movements and theories ranging from Cubism to Constructivism, abstraction to atonality. Starting out more as an attitude of mind than a conscious style, Modernism was a response to the need for the new and the different which was felt in the early twentieth century by intellectuals and artists throughout Europe. It became a phenomenon which was familiar to many but remained the preserve of the few, with such giants as Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius standing out as prime movers, and much activity centred around the Bauhaus as a focus of ideas in the 1920s ... This brilliantly written book shows for the first time how Modernist ideas were expressed in the visual arts, design, interiors, architecture and the decorative arts. It not only presents the outstanding movement in architecture and design of our century but also offers a genuine insight into how it came about. - Front cover.